22

UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION 1910-1995

1916-Continued

11 October The Acting Secretary of War recom-

mended to the Secretary of the Navy that a joint Army-

Navy board be appointed to consider the requirements

for developing a lighter-than-air service in the Army or

Navy or both. With the Secretary's concurrence, there

came into being an agency for interservice coopera-

tion in aeronautics which under its later title,

Aeronautical Board, functioned for over 30 years

before being dissolved in 1948.

24 October The Bureau of Steam Engineering

requested the Navy Yard, Philadelphia, Pa., to under-

take development of a radio direction finder for use

on aeroplanes, and specified that the apparatus be as

light as possible and use wave lengths of 600 to 4,000

meters.

27 October The Chief of Naval Operations directed

that all aircraft loaned or donated to the Naval Militia

by private individuals or organizations be designated

NMAH and be given numbers in sequence beginning

with one.

8 November Lieutenant Clarence K. Bronson, Naval

Aviator No. 15, and Lieutenant Luther Welsh, on an

experimental bomb test flight at Naval Proving

Ground, Indian Head, Md., were instantly killed by the

premature explosion of a bomb in their plane.

17 November Efforts to develop high speed sea-

planes for catapulting from ships led Chief Constructor

Ken Whiting 1061480

David W. Taylor to solicit suitable designs from vari-

ous manufacturers. Among the requirements were a

speed range of 50 to 95 mph, two and a half hours

endurance, and provisions for radio.

7 December Lieutenant Commander Henry C.

Mustin reported that an Eastman Aero camera, tested

at NAS Pensacola, Fla., at altitudes of 600 to 5,100 feet,

was by far the best camera tested up to that time, and

produced photographs very satisfactory for military

purposes.

12 December Captain Mark 1. Bristol was detached

as Commander of the Air Service, and the functions of

the command but not the title were transferred to Rear

Admiral Albert Gleaves, Commander Destroyer Force,

Atlantic Fleet.

30 December The Commission on Navy Yards and

Naval Stations, authorized by the Act of 29 August

1916 for the purpose of selecting new sites for the

expansion of Navy Yards and for submarine and air

bases along the coast, submitted its preliminary report.

For aviation the commission could only report that

"the present development of aeronautical

machines. . . and the practical experience so far

obtained in the utilization of such machines to meet

the tactical and strategical requirements of the fleet

and the defense of the coast, is such as to preclude

the determination at this time of any extensive system

of aviation bases." The commission recommended that

a joint Army-Navy board decide upon locations that

might be used by both services.

W McIlvain, USMC 1061483